'Rocket League' Leaving Steam For Epic Games Store, Goes Free-To-Play This Summer

The vehicular soccer multiplayer video game “Rocket League” developed and published by Psyonix is going free-to-play as it heads to Epic Games Store this summer.

Currently priced at $19.99, the free-to-play update for “Rocket League” “will be the biggest one yet and will include major changes to the Tournaments and Challenge systems,” Psyonix said in a news release on Polygon. It will add cross-platform progression for players’ item inventory, Rocket Pass progress, and Competitive Rank.

The free-to-play update will coincide with the “Rocket League” move to the Epic Games Store and departure from Steam. According to Psyonix, Steam players of “Rocket League” will still get updates and will be able to play with players on other platforms.

“Rocket League” is available on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Windows PC, and Xbox One. It was first released for PC and PS4 in 2015.

Described as "soccer, but with rocket-powered cars," “Rocket League ” has up to eight players assigned to each of the two teams, using rocket-powered vehicles to hit a ball into their opponent's goal and score points over the course of a match.

“Rocket League” players who have played prior to the game’s free-to-play switch this summer will get the following items:

• All “Rocket League”-branded DLC released before free to play
• “Est. 20XX” title that displays the year when the player first started playing “Rocket League”
• 200+ Common items upgraded to “Legacy” quality
• Golden Cosmos Boost
• Dieci-Oro Wheels
• Huntress Player Banner

In May 2019, Epic Games announced its purchase of both Psyonix and “Rocket League.” Although the PC version of “Rocket League” was originally expected to arrive on the Epic Games Store last year, it will coincide with this free-to-play move instead.

A sequel to Psyonix’s “Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars” for the PS3 released in 2008, “Rocket League” was praised for its gameplay improvements over its predecessor, as well as its graphics and overall presentation. Some criticism was, however, directed towards the game's physics engine.

Polygon reports that earlier this month, Psyonix announced that “Rocket League” had been played by more than 75 million players since the game’s launch five years ago.